Flora Slosson Wuellner

Miracle

Sat, 14 May 2022 02:30:28 GMT

Stress, pain, grief…

Do you need a miracle? They still happen, says Wuellner, a wise spiritual director, counselor and healer. She's a witness to their power and mystery.

"Fifty years ago, as a young pastor, I probably would've denied it," she writes. "But over the years I have become humbler, listening and observing more. Yes, acts of wonder still occur surprisingly often in the physical world. …God works closely in, with and through us as every atom, each cell, every thought and action open to reveal God's love."

Televangelists have sullied them, but the mystery of miracles fit into the biblical and theological framework of today. Rediscover their wonder and power.

Focusing on seven of Jesus' miracles, Wuellner invites you to consider:

What does this story tell me about God and how God feels for me?
How can this story help me with my problem?

Wuellner explores the many ways God's generous goodness and mercy are available to each of us. For anyone facing illness or a life crisis, Miracle opens the depths of spiritual richness for living a full life in spite of it all.

Each chapter ends with a guided meditation.

In these stories and meditations, you'll discover Christ's power to touch your intense hurts. Christ can transform them into a life of miracles.

Enter by the Gate

Sat, 14 May 2022 02:22:39 GMT

Hard choices are inevitable.

Whether they involve family or other relationships, a job, or your spiritual journey, some decisions aren't clear-cut or easy. The advice you seek (or that's thrust upon you by well-meaning friends) may leave you more unsure than ever.

The adage "Let go, let God" is a nice notion but often not so satisfying in the midst of difficulty.

If you've ever wondered whether your intuition, the advice you've received, or the direction from your church community truly reflected God's desire for you, you'll find solace in this insightful book, Enter by the Gate.

Using the story of Jesus the Good Shepherd in John 10, Flora Slosson Wuellner explains how to listen for and discern God's way for your life. Along with exploring the rich meanings in the gospel story of the sheep and their shepherd, she suggests meditations to flex your discernment muscles.

"Being guided by God does not guarantee we will have perfect families, perfect jobs, perfect health, with no problems or challenges," Wuellner writes. "But genuine guidance does mean we will experience basic fulfillment and renewal. Abundance will be present at our center."

Without harshness or judgment, Wuellner lists the warning signs of false guidance. Being aware of these signs helps you to recognize misleading voices around and within. She explores communal pressure, powerful idealogies, mistaken or manipulative leaders, traditions and expectations, inner unhealed hurts, anger, need, zealousness, compulsive responsibility, and honest mistakes.

As she says, "only in the spirit of Jesus Christ's own freedom do we help one another and ourselves to move into the adventure of the shining signs and through the authentic gate of guidance."

If you struggle to know whether the voice you hear is God's, Enter by the Gate will bring you to greater clarity. The Shepherd comes for us forever, especially when we have wandered off the path.

Forgiveness, the Passionate Journey

Sat, 14 May 2022 02:08:25 GMT

Why does forgiveness, so central in Jesus' life and teaching, seem much more difficult today?

Why are we so often told we should forgive but so seldom shown the steps toward forgiveness?

"Forgiveness is a perilous and volatile subject because it is so deeply intertwined with our communal and individual wounds," Flora Wuellner writes in the introduction. She explores how Jesus' Beatitudes promise us release from these wounds.

You are invited to begin your journey to forgiveness with these hope-filled meditations on each of the Beatitudes.

Whether you have deep wounds or are worn down by a multitude of seemingly small grievances, let Wuellener's unique insights into the Beatitudes introduce you to the renewed and healed life Jesus offers. Each of the 11 chapters includes a guided meditation to help you bring the truth of Jesus' words into your own life.

Discover an open door to new, healed ways of relating to God, others, yourself, the communities around you, and future generations.

Feed My Shepherds

Sat, 14 May 2022 01:53:12 GMT

A church member has just lost a parent. Another member is scheduled for surgery. Yet another member is having marital problems.

Just another day in the life of a congregation.

Church leaders (both clergy and lay) give immeasurable comfort and nourishment to those in need. But it sometimes leaves them drained, stressed, and wounded. Feed My Shepherds addresses the struggles and burnout experienced by those in caregiving ministries and offers practical tips for practicing healthy spirituality.

"While all Christians need nurture, the active leader who encounters spiritual and emotional stress daily has special, urgent needs," writes Wuellner. "If the shepherd is not fed along with the sheep, that inner hunger and fatigue, those unhealed hurts can cause the shepherd to do great, unconscious harm to those within his or her care."

By looking at the intense, healing relationship between the risen Jesus and his disciples, Wuellner offers a paradigm of healing for today's disciples as well. She draws on scriptures from the Gospels' post-Resurrection narratives and adds spiritual reflections, personal questions, and guided meditations that can meet a variety of needs.

Beyond Death

Sat, 14 May 2022 00:53:07 GMT

What awaits us after death? Flora Wuellner brings her deep wisdom and a lifetime of study, reflection, observation, and spiritual direction to shed light on what Jesus revealed about eternal life. Her writing offers hope and comfort to those who might be troubled by mixed messages about the afterlife from church or who are simply wounded from misunderstandings on the subject. Each chapter opens with a quotation from Jesus and develops the implications of those words, and closes with a guided meditation.